Yeah two of their players actually just left for FC Dallas recently it looks like so with them moving their talent to other leagues you would think their chances of fielding a strong team in the CCL would be reduced. Still I won't want TFC to take any opponent lightly even this one.
Pozuelo digs in
http://www.voetbalnieuws.be/news/384...en-van-croonen
The situation between KRC Genk and Alejandro Pozuelo has not improved. The Spaniard still wants to go, despite the statements of President Peter Croonen. The agent of Pozuelo speaks again strong language.
"If Alejandro thinks up and still wants to stay, we forget this whole history and we lock him in. I know our point of view that there is also a big chance that he will think of himself", he said yesterday the Belgian media.
Het Laatste Nieuws contacted broker David Garcia and explained this statement to him. The Pozuelo camp is not impressed and goes into battle: "Genk can claim what it wants, we prepare ourselves for a legal battle and, if necessary, we break our contract in Genk."
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Not playing today, it seems. They play Slavia Prague in Europa league at 1pm ET (on DAZN if you want to follow the drama live)
https://www.voetbal24.be/news/48816/...ozuelo-en-genk
It seems very unlikely that Alejandro Pozuelo will play at KRC Genk. Het Laatste Nieuws notes that the Spaniard has completely separated himself from the group of players.
"It should be clear, this whole thing is happening on the Spaniard, music on, some strumming on the smartphone and his Gucci bag nonchalantly around his shoulders, and for the rest ... avoiding everything and everyone as much as possible. fans, even our own teammasters stayed away from the neighborhood, "writes the newspaper.
"On the practice field, the same apathetic attitude, hidden under a hat and a neck warmer, and last night he slept alone in a room, as if he had already said good-bye in his mind."
Last edited by ensco; 02-14-2019 at 07:27 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Haha mr. jack did infact remove his twitter post 🙄
Pretty Interesting time for Toronto FC right now, every post on twitter or instagram by the club gets about 50 comments and all backlash over what happen with seba.
Looks like Genk will probably release Poz soon. They got what they wanted it seems. The press there has vilified Poz so the club is off the hook. I guess we'll know by next week.
^I think Genk want something more tangible than villification of Pozo. They got that day one, really.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
A lot of what Genk has been doing seems PR related. Their stance about not being a club about money is a prime example of posturing. I've felt everything is to save face. Like what would supporters think if you're best player was allowed to be sold outside your window to a club in a league that they regard as shit? This is like if we sold Seba to the Saudi club in late August of 2017 while we were on our run to the treble.
Genk is in a position of having to lose the player ( he is not playing in matches now) with no money, or lose the player and get 8 million euros out of him. I think they choose the 8 million euros. I also don't think that we had any way to actually trigger his buyout clause officially before our transfer window opened. Now that it is open I think we will be applying all out legitimate resources to this. It was interesting to me that Genk started breaking this all out about 5 days before our transfer window opened. Right after the last match he was likely to play for the club. This gave Genk 5 days to set the narrative and prepare the fans for his departure. That football 24 web poll seems to be showing most Genkers are willing to let him go. I am fairly certain that with our window now officially open things begin to move. Everything before this was negotiating with Genk to see if we could get this started before the window opened. Now with the window open, we can trigger his buyout and get him on the way in.
All these transfer stories where a player fully embedded in the team wants to go end up the same way - the player goes.
The ONLY difference in this one is whether the one league he wants to go to would look kindly on a player buying himself out.
That may be true. (I've yet to see any evidence - interestingly, a lot of talk on twitter seems to come from the discussion in this forum)
******
On another note, this sort of move, if pulled off, is part of the evolution of this league - TFC have been leaders in this.
The move for Bradley was the 1st big "get a guy here in his prime" move. We overlook it now but a $10 million transfer for a guy in his 20's - that was new.
The second move was grabbing a guy unhappy with his situation but in his prime from a big team. (Atlanta copied us in Martinez) This was truly monumental and arguably the step that got MLS to wake up to its buying power.
The 3rd move, still unsual, was the straight swap to Europe of a DP for a DP - oh and, people forget this - TFC made money on that transfer as we got $11 million for Defoe after paying $10 million for him from Spurs + we got Altidore. This sort of move WILL happen again.
Now, we have a 4th unique move - we are full in on a guy in his prime who is a top player on a quality European team wanting out of his contract, a guy with no connection to MLS or North America at all. This is the sort of move previously done for Vasquez type players - guys in Mexico wanting out who are older.
We keep setting the bar higher here. OK, people may not like the moves and realistically, this is the first one not TL related. But, each one of these 4 things is something not previously done in MLS - TFC is pushing that bar. Lets hope it continues.
Genk playing today on DAZN - 12:55. Probably will be the most watched Genk game in Canada ever.
Poz on the bench for the Europa League game
Bad choice of words. here is my take, Genk have five important match days till the playoffs. Right now Pozuelo sits, and Genk doesn't have their player, they also don't have the transfer money. If this goes worst case, he buys himself out for a fraction of the 8 million. MLS "rules" about not taking players who have broken contracts, are likely in place to stop players from trying to circumvent the single-entity/allocation issues that could arise. MLS can at anytime waive its internal rules if the league feels it is in its best interest. So if the league feels this move does not set a bad precedent for other teams or future moves they can let Toronto pick up Pozuelo after he breaks his contract. MLS rules are more like guidelines, if the league wants it can do pretty much anything.
I wish a reporter would get Ciman to explain how Belgium works in terms of these issues .... although he might choose to keep his thoughts to himself I suppose.
Let me rephrase: I wish a reporter would try to get anybody to explain Belgian football practices as it relates to contract law. It can’t be that hard, just pick up the phone and call someone in Belgium! Off the record, whatever, just do it.... Christ our media situation has never been so hopeless....maybe someone here who has time can call one of the Belgian sports papers and get a local reporter on the line.
I bet Ciman is quietly amused by this btw. He is from the Walloon side of Belgium. Where he comes from messing with Genk probably gets you high fives and free beers.
Last edited by ensco; 02-14-2019 at 12:12 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Reading the reports, Genk claimed he could get his release by paying the buy-out left on his contract, which if I recall was 2.5 mill euros, which is about 3.75 mil cdn. That's a lot of cash. Belgian contract law states that to have a valid contract with a Belgian company the contract has to be signed (see: belgianlawyers.com). Apparently handshake agreements don't cut it over there.
Announcers in this game seem to have no idea of the drama. Pozo identified only as a “potentially useful substitute “
So we want Slavia to rout them I guess
Last edited by ensco; 02-14-2019 at 01:13 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I think Champions League is the real motivating factor for them. It's extra money, plus winning their league title to get it is big. They're still a ways away from that now. Not sure how Europa figures in with teams at this level.
They would get 5 million Euros for making it to the CL. If they got through the playoff they get another 15 million. So it's decent money if they can get there.
Last edited by Canary10; 02-14-2019 at 01:48 PM.